Cynarctus Temporal range:
| |
---|---|
Cynarctus Skull | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Family: | Canidae |
Subfamily: | †Borophaginae |
Tribe: | †Borophagini |
Subtribe: | †Cynarctina |
Genus: | †Cynarctus Matthew, 1902 |
Type species | |
†Cynarctus saxatilis | |
Species | |
|
Cynarctus is an extinct genus of the Borophaginae subfamily of canids native to North America. The genus was first founded by W. D. Matthew in 1901, based from a pair of lower jaws, Cynarctus saxitilis, found in the Pawnee Creek Beds of Colorado.[1] It lived during the Middle to Late Miocene 16.0—10.3 mya, existing for approximately 5.7 million years.[2] Fossils have been uncovered in Colorado, California, Maryland, western Nebraska, and Texas. It was likely an omnivore, and lacked the bone-cracking adaptations found in some later borophagines.[3] Newer findings have proved the genus to be described as a large dog-like raccoon, a result from combining characteristics from Canidae with Procyonidae.[4]